Com. Upgrades

[Cartell]

I have decided to upgrade my computer, so that it can run Titan Quest, NWN 2, DMOMM, Stalker SOC and so on. Not being the expert of Computers, I pose the question, what should I upgrade? and what should I upgrade it with. Heres some specs.

1Gig Ram

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ processor

Nvidia Geforce 6150 LE

Thanks in advance for the help,
Cartell.

[Tricky]

Post motherboard specifications too. Unless you intend to replace that as well it will limit what you can plug back in to some extend.

[Malta Soron]

I think the minimum upgrade would be to buy a decent graphics card. Right now you seem to be using an on-board chip, and that is slowing you down. I think that if you bought something like a 7900GT(X) or a 7600GT (if you're low on budget), you'd have no problems playing those games. However, to decide which card you'd best buy, we need to know whether your motherboard as an AGP or a PCI-express slot.

[DesR85]

I agree with Malta Soron that you need to upgrade your graphics card. Just a note: If you want to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R., don't switch to 'Full Dynamic Range Lighting' no matter whether your graphics card is high-end or not as you will need a lot of RAM (1.5MB and above) too. Even high-end machines that are well above the recommended system specs also registered performance problems as well.

[Siberys]

His processor is a bit more modern-ish, so I would bet that it has both AGP and PCI-Express on it for the motherboard parts (Remember, a processor and a motherboard have to have some sort of connection to each other).

But I do agree that a video card is a step in the right direction, I have an ATI GeCube X1300 512Mb, and I got it for 120 bucks or so. Just to give you a perspective of it's graphics, out of the listed supported cards for the game Elder Scrolls Oblivion, an ATI X1300 is the 4th highest card supported for ATI cards.

And as for anything else if you can afford it, I would recommend an upgrade in Memory, even if it's just 256 Megs, it'll be worth it.

[Cartell]

About my processors, It's only 986 MHz, my friend said that was a huge problem, so I'm thinking about upgrading that first, any thought?

[Tricky]

Again the motherboard specifications. If you can give those we can look up what kind of socket it uses for the CPU and how that might in its turn limit the type of memory you can plug in. It is all tied together.

[Siberys]

Originally Posted by Cartell

About my processors, It's only 986 MHz, my friend said that was a huge problem, so I'm thinking about upgrading that first, any thought?

You're processor can't be 986 MHz, AMD Athlon 64 doesn't make anything below 1.8 Ghz these days. Did you mean it's a 986 socket?

[Cartell]

Originally Posted by Siberys

You're processor can't be 986 MHz, AMD Athlon 64 doesn't make anything below 1.8 Ghz these days. Did you mean it's a 986 socket?

I know, I did a little research, which was perplexing because it says, 986MHz right under AMD in the system details . I'm not sure what to think about it.

[Siberys]

Ah, that's a different part of the processor then. See, AMD Athlon 64 processors have sort of a backup processor to give more power to the regular processor. Meaning, if your processor normally functions under 2.0 Gigaherz and has a 986 MHz cache, combined with your memory you can get up to a 3.0 GHz processor for a normal AMD Athlon 3000. 3800 varies, but that's basically backup power right there.

[Tricky]

Ok well suit yourself.

[Malta Soron]

Originally Posted by Cartell

About my processors, It's only 986 MHz, my friend said that was a huge problem, so I'm thinking about upgrading that first, any thought?

I don't know what that number stands for, but it's not your processor speed. The AMD Athlon 64 3800+ is clocked at 2.4 GHz and has a 939 socket.
Can you give a screenshot of where you see it? The only time I've seen that the CPU speed was displayed incorrectly was when the motherboard was broken.

Originally Posted by Siberys

Ah, that's a different part of the processor then. See, AMD Athlon 64 processors have sort of a backup processor to give more power to the regular processor. Meaning, if your processor normally functions under 2.0 Gigaherz and has a 986 MHz cache, combined with your memory you can get up to a 3.0 GHz processor for a normal AMD Athlon 3000. 3800 varies, but that's basically backup power right there.

1. Cache is memory, not a processing unit. The 3800+ has 128kB L1 and 512kB L2 cache.
2. CPUs have only one processing unit. Athlon 64s are given a higher number than their clockspeed (as said, the 3000+ runs at 2GHz, the 3700+ at 2.2GHz and the 3800+ at 2.4GHz, depending on the core) because their architecture makes them faster than comparable Pentiums (at the time); the number indicates what the speed of a corresponding Pentium 3 would be (so a 3000+ is as fast as a 3GHz Pentium 3) according to AMD.


@Cartell: Your CPU and RAM are perfectly fine, you only need a decent video card t go with them and then you'll be set for the coming time.
If you're going to buy a video card, don't buy anyting with a second number (e.g. the x in 7x00GT and X1x00XT) lower than 6. Everything below is crap and not worth the price difference. I'd say, buy a nVidia 7900GT* or a Radeon X1950XT (the latter is better, but the first is slightly cheaper). If you don't have so much money, buy a nVidia 7600GT.
EDIT: Just remembered we don't know yet which slot you have. Check whether you have an AGP or PCIe slot (check your motherboard manual, or use Sisoft Sandra) and give me your budget, then I'll look up a good card for you.

*I used to have a 3700+, 2GB RAM and a 7900GT, and that was a very good and balanced combination. (Now I have an Opteron 170 :P) (2GB RAM isn't a necessity to you now; the video card is way more important.)